CityLab Daily: How HUD Could Dismantle a Pillar of Civil Rights Law

Backdoor plan: On Monday, the Trump administration will introduce a new rule making it harder for people to bring discrimination complaints under the Fair Housing Act. The proposal from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would reverse Obama-era rules and raise the burden of proof for parties claiming discrimination through “disparate impact,” a civil rights legal theory that allows challenges to policies that have an adverse affect on minorities without explicit discrimination. It outlines new defenses for landlords, lenders, and others accused of discrimination, shielding their use of third-party algorithms that measure credit risk, home insurance, mortgage interest rates, and more.